Kublai Khan
Kublai Khan (23 September 1215 – 18 February 1294), also known as the Emperor Shizu of Yuan and by his regnal name Setsen Khan, was the founder and first emperor of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty of China. He proclaimed the dynastic name "Great Yuan" in 1271, and ruled Yuan China until his death in 1294.
Kublai was the second son of Tolui, and a grandson of Genghis Khan. He was almost 12 when Genghis Khan died in 1227. He had succeeded his older brother Möngke as Khagan in 1260, but had to defeat his younger brother Ariq Böke in the Toluid Civil War lasting until 1264. This episode marked the beginning of the division of the Mongol Empire.
In 1271, Kublai established the Yuan dynasty and formally claimed orthodox succession from prior Chinese dynasties. By 1279, the Yuan conquest of the Song dynasty was completed and Kublai became the first non-Han emperor to rule all of China proper. The Yuan dynasty came to rule over most of present-day China, Mongolia, Korea, southern Siberia, and other adjacent areas.
The Italian explorer Marco Polo served in Kublai Khan's court for about seventeen years, during which time Polo traveled extensively throught China and other parts of Asia. Polo's record of his travels, known as The Travels of Marco Polo, gave Europeans their first comprehensive look into China and other Asian societies.
Kublai recieved teachings from Chögyal Pakpa, a teacher from the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism. In 1253, Kublai named Chögyal Pakpa as the ruler of Tibet.
Further reading
Kublai Khan, Wikipedia
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